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Game Review: Star Wars: Edge of the Empire (Part II)

And just like that we're on the
cusp of September. I know, I know. That's some serious old lady speak.
Apparently my next foray into super science should be a remote control that can
manipulate the space-time continuum. <<drums fingers>> Excellent.

You know what else is excellent?
The fact that the players in my inaugural run as a GM still haven't fled in
terror. Three sessions in and they're apparently sticking around. I'm going to give
the vast majority of the credit for that to the system, for it does indeed
deliver on its promise to be narrative-based fun.

Now that we've all had a bit more
time and opportunity to get our role-playing hands dirty, I wanted to update
the earlier Edge of the Empire review
with some of our experiences and observations. Hopefully these will come in
handy if you're considering running a campaign in the system or if you've
signed up for the public beta of the successor volume, Age of Rebellion. The following tidbits are divided between
commentary gleaned from the players and input from my point of view, as the GM.

For the Players

My players are generally affable
nerds with considerable role-playing experience who relish the opportunity to
roll some dice and utilize their imaginations in the Star Wars universe. While
they can get particular, none of them are 'rules lawyers', despite the fact
that one is, by profession, a lawyer. For the most part, they've enjoyed the
flexibility that the system provides in terms of character maintenance and
interaction with NPCs. As discussed in part one of this review, the core
mechanic of the game centers on creating a brisk, complex narrative. The most
common remark I've heard regarding this is that the core mechanic and, by
extension, the system as a whole, is something of a double-edged sword. The
degree of freedom is unlike most other systems and my players have reveled in
being able to do pretty much anything that springs to mind. They now have
several sources of illicit income derived entirely from activities for which
there are no formal rules or guidelines, but sprang into being simply from,
"I do X, would that then let me do Y?"

It's a lot of fun to see them get
to stretch those imagination muscles and dive into a universe almost entirely
unfettered. However, sometimes that lack of structure can be more of a bane
than a boon. There are a significant number of concepts, activities and
encounters that have no more explanation than, "Whatever the GM feels is
appropriate." Understandably, this can cause frustrations when the players
are trying to formulate a plan of action or lay out logistics for how they
intend to fill the downtime between encounters.

Crafting is one area that could
have benefited from a bit more guidance. Things like scavenging or modifying a
weapon seem at least somewhat straightforward in their intent, but the
activities themselves are enormously broad. Scavenging in particular is frustrating
because there are no rules differentiating someone looking for any potential
usable parts versus someone looking for a rare metallic alloy with which to
make an auto-cocker for their bowcaster. To address this, we've modified the
rules governing the rarity of a given item (meant to apply to the purchasing
and sale of goods in the game) and applied them to salvaging components.

The core rulebook lists what
skills may be utilized in order to make scavenging checks, but everything else
is, "Whatever the GM feels is appropriate." Want to add a scope to
your sweet carbine and improve your aim? Sure thing. The core rulebook provides
instructions as to how many free hard points are required for the task but, as
for the actual time and effort it will take to mount the scope to the carbine?
Eh, "Whatever the GM feels is appropriate." I'm not saying that every
handicraft and activity needed a correspondence chart. Yes, the system is
narrative based, we understand. But it would have been very helpful to get just
a bit more clarity on certain things, particularly when the talents that
support crafting get some explanation, but the craft itself does not. Though,
as mentioned, my players aren't 'rules lawyers', they were meeting with
difficulty trying to ascertain these details definitively, building off of
previous experience with other systems that do provide substantial instruction.
This may be parsed out and addressed in future rulebooks.

Speaking of rulebooks, the core
rulebook itself is dense and quite lengthy. Is it a Randian tome? No. Does it
take a bit of effort to get comfortable with? Yes. With such a new system, it's
taken a few sessions for my players to tap into the rulebook and start creating
synergies or applying talents for maximum effect and that's to be expected.
What might be nice in the future is an online dictionary or wiki, akin to what
Paizo has with their Pathfinder system, that would allow players to look up
aspects of the game and study them at their leisure.

For the GM

Though I've loved the system, and
being able to GM, quite a bit thus far, the lack of structure regarding certain
skills or interactions has been as big a source of frustration for me as it has
been for the players. While I do my best to explain the logic in any rulings
made where formal written rules leave off. The vast majority of said logic is
founded in my existing knowledge of the Star Wars universe which is handy to
have, but not required. There are also suggestions as to what you can do if
you'd prefer to run your campaign outside of established canon. Only one of my
players is similarly obsessed versed so, on occasion, without formal
rules, some of the rulings themselves do not make complete sense to the rest of
the players. This is obviously also something I need to work on as well.

That said, if you do decide to
use canon in your campaign it can provide some seriously awesome, potentially
goosebump-inducing moments for both you and the players. At one point in the
last session the players landed in a hangar bay riddled with blaster fire and
made their way to a nearby cantina. Only after seeing an all-Bith band playing
"that same song" did they have the realization that they were
standing in that cantina and parked
in that hangar bay. Similarly,
watching them roleplay after learning critical bits of information, like that
Alderaan had just been obliterated by the Empire, was a pleasure in itself and
truly where the core mechanic gets a chance to shine.

Some things that are ok for the
time being, but feel, for lack of a better word, clunky include two types of
combat: mass and space. The rulebook does an excellent job of laying out not
only the base protocol, but three alternate courses of action a GM can take
when laying out adversaries for the PCs to confront. That in itself is great
but, akin to our qualm with the crafting, this section could have benefited
from just a bit more explanation. Something as simple as "we recommend you
use this for groups of 5 or more" would go a long way in preventing needlessly drawn out combat sequences.

Sorry YT-1300. We seem to be having a scanner malfunction

Space combat, while fun, is also
fairly complex. Part of this is due to our relative inexperience, but it is
also not the simple extension of personal combat that the rulebook makes it out
to be. For this there is plenty of instruction, but it seems especially dense
given that other sections, including those governing more common activities,
aren't given nearly so much detail. We go from "Whatever the GM feels is
appropriate" to "you need to reach this speed within this range and
position yourself within this arc to be able to have even a chance of hitting a
craft of this silhouette." It's fine. As with everything else, we're still
learning and will get more comfy with space combat in time but, at present, it
seems a bit uneven and tends to weigh heavily on the pace of the game.

Something other GMs may want to
do is to counsel their players on the importance of having at least one
individual with a minimum of two ranks (the most a PC can have at the game's
outset) in the skill Pilot (Space). GMs may want to provide this designated PC
with a copy of the rules governing pilot only maneuvers and actions before the
campaign begins so the player can familiarize themselves with these unique
instructions. They are almost assuredly too much for one person to take in and
utilize effectively while in the heat of combat.

It's been a great experience thus
far. Here's hoping that this continues.

Wishes for a wonderful Labor Day
weekend for all those celebrating these next few days and a happy con to those
lucky nerds headed off to Dragon*Con or PAX Prime!